Now that's service: Vernon mayor offers rides to holiday party-goers

VERNON - It’s not every day your designated driver is also your mayor.

But that was the case in Vernon Saturday night after Mayor Akbal Mund posted an offer on his Facebook page inviting anyone who needed a safe, sober ride home to give him a call.

Image Credit: Facebook

The generous offer has earned the mayor many pats on the back, with residents posting thank yous and shout outs on his page.

For his part, Mund remains humble about the whole thing and says ‘anybody else would have done the same thing'.

Having been invited to several different Christmas parties and wanting to make appearances at all of them, Mund was already planning on doing a bit of driving around and, naturally, no drinking. Since he’d be up late anyways, he figured he might as well offer to get others home safely.

Image Credit: Facebook

About half a dozen couples phoned and took him up on the offer, which he was happy to extend.

“You just want to make sure you get your friends home, it was nothing special,” Mund says.

He’s encouraging everyone to look out for their friends over the holidays and ensure everyone gets home safely.

“If you choose not to drink, take the people you came with home and come back and take some more,” Mund says. “If everybody did that, especially in a small community like ours, everyone would be home safe.”

To contact a reporter for this story, email Charlotte Helston at chelston@infonews.ca or call 250-309-5230. To contact the editor, email mjones@infonews.ca or call 250-718-2724.

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